


The brightest flame

by Ruth_Cooper



Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: M/M, Waste of your time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 11:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17283401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruth_Cooper/pseuds/Ruth_Cooper
Summary: Alternative universe.Contains trong language, graphic description of abuse, more to be added.Enjoy.





	1. Chapter 1

...'It is not now as it hath been of   
yore—;  
Turn wheresoe'er I may   
By night or day.  
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.'

I listened to every word the teacher said. I read the poem over and over. I lived it. 'That there hath past away a glory from the-'

  
-"Maven Calore, are you still with us?"

  
Crap. I"m still in the classroom.

  
-"Yes, I-I'm sorry. What was the question?"   
She smiled at me kindly.

  
-" What do you think he has meant to say,Maven?"  
What has he meant to say..

  
-"Well..I think that he felt incomplete. I mean.. Once,as a child, he has observed all those natural things with such joy and fascination. And he remembers that feeling. But then - he no longer does. Yes, it was still beautiful and pure,but not the same as it used to be.Not enough.And no,it didn't change, instead - he did. He grew up, and noticed not only beauty, but all that stands on the other side of it. And that wasn't as joyful and colorful. It was dark. I guess..."

  
I couldn't not notice the boy,Thomas, watching me as I speak. He was the only one who did. Others were wasting their time on empty talks,shitty 'oh my God, he's a vampire' books, and other meaningless things. 

-"That's a deep thought. I'd like to read more about it in your assignment.-"

  
I love those.

  
-"-Each of you will write a page about William Wordsworths 'Ode on intimations of immortality'. They're due to the lesson next week. Class dismissed"

  
I packed my bag. The last period is my least favorite subject- physical education. I prefer reading books to getting beaten up by much stronger studens.

But I get beat up anyways.

  
The price I pay for being moderately educated...and sarcastic.

  
I headed to my locker to take the book I'm currently reading with me. In case I have free time.

  
As I opened the locker, I saw a folded piece of paper lying on my book. I unfolded it.

Get your ass to the lockers in the gym,faggot. Or it'll be worse.

Define 'worse'.

  
Another one schelduled meeting with my 'friendly' classmates. I can't wait to get out of this bloody school.

I went to the gym.

  
The changing rooms were empty. Where are they? Well, I wasn't that upset. I changed into my sports-wear.

Here they are.

  
-"Look who decided to show up"

  
Meet Nathan. Blond haired, blue eyed, muscular and dumb. Cliché much?

  
-"Well,you threatened me to do so."

  
I said quietly,while pretending to search something in my bag.

  
-"What did you say,dipshit?"

  
Kevin. His a-bit-smarter gay best friend. But Nathan is too oblivious to see that.

I don't know where that came from, 'cause I usually wait until they've finished humiliating me, but I was sick of it. What could I possibly do to make it worse?

  
-"Why are you doing this? Can't you just..pick someone of your level of stupidity?"

  
That was not what I meant to say. But, at least it is something.

  
I almost instantly regreted it.

  
I felt my body being pressed on the lockers.

  
-"Stop being so smart-ass, dickhead"

  
Nathan said in his breathy-throaty voice.

  
I felt his fist on my jaw.

  
This whole thing reminded me of the smell of red wine and metal.

  
Then I was pushed down on the cold titled floor. As I tried to stand up, I felt his foot on my back, pressing down hard.

  
-"No more witty responses, faggot"

  
Then he hit in my rib cage. Again. Again.   
Where the heck is everyone?

  
Both of them left.

  
And someone else comes in. That someone is about to see a pathetic mess lying on the floor. No.  
I tried standing up as quickly as I could.Failed.

Tried again. Finally did it.

  
I turned around. It was Thomas.

  
\- "What happened to you lip?"

  
What?

  
Only now I tasted the metalic taste in my mouth. I quickly wiped my mouth with the back of my palm. It hurt. A lot.

  
-"Uh..Nothing. I slipped and fell over"

  
He didn't seem convinced.

  
-"You have dirt on the left side your shirt, your lip is bleeding and you winced when you moved your hand. I don't think you simply 'fell over" on your face and then somehow hurt your ribs."

  
Shit. What do I say to that? I picked the meanest response in my folder of PG comments. Nicely done.

  
-"Even if I did, that's none of your concern."

  
He looked offended, as I predicted. Then added :

  
-"Look,I'm sorry, it's just-"

  
-"-None of my concern. I get it"

  
Shit pickles. What did I just do? I ruined a potential friendship. That's what I did.

  
He nodded,then turned away. As he dud, he said:

  
-"The class has started some minutes ago. You might want to make up an excuse for the teacher."

  
I turned away.

My hands found their way to my hair and pulled its curls as hard as they could, but not enough to pull any out. My insides screamed out of pain from moving.

He was the only one who I hadn't mess up with. And now I didn't even have him. I am destined to be a socially-awkward lonely teenager for the rest of my high school years. One long year with only poems, music and oil paints to mend my soul. It's gonna be a long one.

  
I need to apologise to Thomas. I shouldn't have said those things to him.

That almost sounds like we're married. Hilarious.

  
I walked out of there, leaving my book behind.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written from Thomas's point of view.

What a prick! I was just trying to help.

It was obvious that those two did that to Maven, but that doesn't mean that I was gonna tell anyone if he wouldn't want me to. Now I don't want to know how is he...Or how long have they been doing that to him...Or why. Damn.

  
I shouldn't have left him. I'll never have a normal friend. Yeah,I do have 'friends'. I mean.. I'm on the football team, and dozens of girls have asked me out, but..that's..not what I want.

  
Maven is different. He is intellegent,polite and sweet. But,for some reason, he seems ashamed of that. Maybe..Because if that prats Nathan and Kevin. But thats highly unlikely. Yeah, definitely.

  
Where is the teacher? Nevermind, he's always late.  
I sat on the bench, looking at my feet.

  
Oh look who's here. Maven. I should see if he's okay.

  
-"Hi again"

  
-"I'm sorry" he said almost at the same time as me.   
He ran his hand throught his raven curls. And then continued:

  
-"Look, I'm sorry,I shouldn't have lashed out on you like that-"

  
That wasn't only his fault. Besides, how can I let his beautiful blue eyes fill with shame and sorrow. What?

  
I cut him off:

  
-"-You don't have to apologise. I get it."

  
I do.

  
-"But still I-"

  
I smiled at him brightly, and shook my head looking down. That made him shut up.

  
Some moments passed. I spoke:

  
-"I reckon the teacher won't be here. I'm gonna go change into my clothes and go home, do you wanna go with me. To your home..I mean,I'll walk you. Home."

  
That didn't sound weird at all. Nah.  
He looked puzzled. He won't agree.

  
-"Yeah. Cool"

  
He agreed.

  
I nodded while turning around and heading to the changing room.

  
We both went there.

  
I took my clothes off and quickly put my normal one's on. I glanced at him subconsiously. Holy shit!

  
-"What happened to you?" It just slipped out.

  
He looked at me, trying to hide his torso from me. But that was too late. His abdomen and chest was black-and-blue. Filled with bruises and scars.

Fucking hell.

  
-"Nevermind"

  
-"Nevermind? How long has that been going on?!"

  
-"It doesn't matter,Thomas"

  
I heard his voice break at my name. Maben has been abused and nobody seems to fucking notice it. Why aren't his parents doing anything.

  
I got that he doesn't want to talk about it.

  
-"You can talk to me,you know that?"

  
He smirked.

  
-"I've known you for fifteen minutes. And I barely do. So..I don't think so."

  
-"Fair enough"

  
-"I think so too."

  
I grinned.

  
-"So you barely know me, but you let me walk you home? What if I'm a sociopath who will know where you live?"

  
-"Maybe you are. But I don't care about that. As long as you don't kill me and set my house on fire after."

  
-"You don't know that for sure" He looked at me, his eyes warm and the corners of his mouth softly curled up.

  
-"Let's go" he said.

  
When we exited the school I felt him lose all the tense.

  
We walked un silence for some time.  
Then I asked:

  
-"I like the way you told about 'Ode on intimations of immortality' today. That's an interesting point of view."

  
-"Thanks,I guess..."

  
Shyness is his forte.

  
Another silence.

  
We walk past the park, leaves are falling down, tainting the ground yellow and red colors. The sky is gray and the clouds move fast. The wind blows his black curls at his face. It was going to rain. Soon.

  
As much as I like walking in quiet, I don't want to waste my time with him on long sullen silences.

  
-"So..what do you do at home? Do you have any interests"

  
I looked at him. He looked in nowhere.

  
-"I enjoy sketching, drawing..things"

  
I knew it. A shy, creative artist.

  
-"Ah, what do you draw with?"

  
-"Oil paints, mostly, and soft pastels. With everything,actually." He almost whispered.

  
-"That's great. I would like to see them sometime,if you don't mind."

  
I really want to watch him draw. I mean to see his drawings.

  
His head dropped down. Something is wrong. I upset him. Great.

  
-"I've heard you play piano. And that you're pretty good. "

  
-"How did you know?"

  
-"I've..heard?"

  
-"Right.."

  
He's a sociable person indeed.

  
Then the rain started pouring.

  
-"Shit"

  
-"Yeah. Well, not for me, because I live right here-"  
He pointed to our left.

  
-"-But what are you gonna do? I can't let you in, my parentrs are at home and if you'll be there - you will witness a shitshow. And, believe me, you don't want to do that" he said with a weak smile.

  
I looked at him. His raven curls are falling down the side of his face, the drops of rain slip of the ends of it.

  
I shrugged my shoulders.

  
-"I like rain"

  
I do.

  
-"Yeah, but not walk in it."

  
I don't.

  
Maven continued:

\- "I could let you borrow my umbrella. We should do something, or else you'll get cold."

  
\- "Yeah,that'll do, I think. Thanks"

  
\- " You can wait there, 'till I get back"

  
He pointed at the bus stop a few meters away.

  
-"I won't be long"

  
He dissapeared in the building. I didn't want to hide from the rain, I quite liked the feeling of water, washing over me. It calmed me down. I imagined drowning. The weight of everything would be so real. Not like now. I flowed in that feeling.  
Here he comes,holding the umrella over himself.

  
\- "Why didn't you wait at the stop?"

  
Concern was written all over his face. He is so small and fragile, I wanna wrap him up in a blanket and put him in a box. Then carry him around with me. That sounded wrong. He's younger than me.He's seventeen. Still. I'll give you that.

  
-"I-I don't know. I told you I adore rain." I smirked.

  
-"You are a psycho" he said chuckling.

  
Gosh, he's cute. Shut up. Our eyes met for a moment, then his bright blue darted away from my dark brown.

  
-"Here you go" he stretched his arm out. I grabbed the handle of umbrella and his hand brushed softly over mine.

  
Ooooohohoo. Shut it.

  
-"I'm sorry" he said.

  
-"For what?"

  
-"I could have scratched you a bit."

  
-"But you didn't."

  
-"But I could've."

  
I smiled at him.

  
We stood there, under umbrella, smilling at each other, ignoring the rain.

  
-" And I'm sorry for not letting you in. I just-"

  
-"You have to stop apologising"

  
-"I'm sorry. Crap"

  
That is cute. I agree. Could you both shut up? I'm trying to be normal here. Rude. Agreed.

  
-"Well, see you around, I guess. I'll back your umbrella tomorrow at school then?"

  
-"Yeah. Bye."

  
I waited until he closed the door to his house.   
I went past the park, school, art museum and I finally got home. The rain hasn't stopped. I don't think it will anytime soon.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me What you think. It really helps me to get better at writing.  
> Love,  
> -author

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think?   
> Should I continue writing it?  
> Let me know.  
> Love,  
> -author.


End file.
